FARMER FINED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 30, 4 January 1927, Page 6

FARMER FINED.

FOR WOUNDING a FILLY.

OTOROHANGA, Jan. 1. At a sitting of the Police Court at Otorohanga, Silas Rankin, a well-known farmer of the Otewa district, was charged by the police with committing mischief by the wounding of a stallion and a filly (the property of Otewa natives) on December 29. The evidence led by the police, disclosed that Rankin had been greatly annoyed for a considerable period past by the trespassing of large numbers of horses on liis farm. Trie natives admitting this, asserting that it was due to a dilapidated fence. Two young women swore that they saw. Rankin 'fire at and wound a filly. Their horses had been shot at upon two occasions. In his own defence, Silas Rankin stated that he knew nothing of the shooting before being interviewed by Constable Fry. He did not fire a shot when near the girls, lie was in the habit of using a .303, and not a shotgun. The Bench decided that the charge relating to the stallion had not been substantiated, but that the second count had been proved. The defendant was, therefore, convicted of shooting at the filly, and fined £3 and costs.